


Futures

by Abitfairytailforme



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: F/M, Fin's Sargent, Yesterday's episode, episode specific
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-15 21:27:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10557974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abitfairytailforme/pseuds/Abitfairytailforme
Summary: Three ways Barba's meeting could go





	

**Author's Note:**

> Just watched the new episode and, honestly, this is my first episode specific episode ever so... Just... I needed to get this out, I hope it ties you(and me) over till next week.

_I:_

Barba sat on his couch, a glass of scotch in his hands, sipping it slowly, mindlessly, words replaying in his head over and over again: _I think it's time you took a break, Rafael._ He's aware that the phone is ringing. It's been ringing on and off for the past two hours, always starting with _Olivia Benson._ He can't bring himself to pick it up: _Maybe you should take homicide for a while._ Barba shudders, finishing his glass of scotch. _Who'll take over?_ He'd inquired, once he'd finally accepted the reality being presented to him. The ringing finally stops and his answering machine goes off, his prerecorded message blasting through the house. Why did he even have a freaking landline? Barba expected, like the last 4 times she called him, for her to hang up, any second now. The machine finished it's prerecorded message, signaling her to talk with a loud, rather annoying, beep. 

"Hey, Barba." Olivia's voice wafts through the house. "I know you're in there, but you're too stubborn to pick up. I don't know what happened in there, but I'd like to talk, either way." Barba blinks several times. There was pain, real pain, that he didn't expect that would arise in this situation. He'd actually gone into that meeting thinking maybe, just maybe, it was time for him to get out of it all. But, faced with the reality of leaving and the forceful leaving no less, he finds that he cannot imagine a single week without being part of SVU. One time, it would've been easy, but not anymore. "I, um," _Filler word, Liv._ Barba's mind supplies. "I'll be at the park on 5th avenue with Noah in an hour. If you're not there, I'll understand-" Olivia leaves the rest of the thought hanging, but it's obvious what she means. _I'll know what's happened, and I know you don't want to see me._ "I hope to see you then." And the message stops. It's 4:30 now. She'll be there at 5:30. Barba, after another motionless 10 minutes, gets up and makes coffee and takes a shower while it brews. That kills another 10 minutes. He turns off the coffee pot and dresses up. He has 20 more minutes before he has to leave to get there in time. If he goes. He pours himself coffee, placing the pot next to the open bottle of scotch. He looks at his coffee, sighs, and places it down, grabbing the scotch and the glass, refilling it. He finds it's easy to kill another 20 minutes.

Barba's staring at his blinking answering machine, signaling there's a message. Barba takes a deep breath, another sip of scotch, and deletes the message. 

 _Message Deleted_. Rings around the apartment. And, in replacement of the blinking light - which had been a 1 to indicate a single message - there's the time: 5:45. 

~~~

_II:_

Olivia's there when he steps out of the courthouse. It had been almost an hour, but she'd stayed. He glanced at her, a look of defeat in his eyes and started to walk down the steps. Olivia took a moment of shock before running after him, catching up quickly and matching her pace with his. They walk in silence for 3 minutes, telling Olivia more than she ever wants to hear.

"How'd it go?" She whispers. _That's it. He's gone, away from SVU forever. And me._

"Suspended, two years." Olivia stops short. No. No no no no. It's too much, way to much like too long ago, almost a decade now. He can't be gone. 

"Suspended." She stammers out, not a question, a shocked statment. An unbelievable statement.

"I thought they might do so. They don't want me to come back to SVU either. Homicide, if I ever return to the ADA business." He huffs. He realizes she's stopped walking again and he turns around. "Listen, Liv. I don't know what my future holds, but it's not here."

"What are you saying, Rafael?" He looks sadly at her.

"You know it did cross my mind so many times. Maybe none more than two hours ago, when I knew what would happen. I thought, 'maybe one good could come out of all of this.'" She stares at him, like he's talking crazy.

"Rafael, wh-"

"You know what I'm talking about, Liv. You can't tell me you didn't feel it too." She closes her eyes. How could she be so close to tears? 

"I did, but I don't see why it can't be."

"My future, Liv, is shaky, undetermined. I wished I'd just told you a year ago, a month, a week, hell, yesterday, but now it's too late." She moves close to him.

"It's never too late," she says, moving close to him. He pushes her away.

"It is, Liv. You know it is. You have Noah to think about, that little boy you love so so much, the one who needs a mother and, one day, a father too. I can't promise anything so strong, not now. I'm so sorry, Olivia, but I think this is it."

"This is what?" He smiles sadly at her.

"The end." And he walks away, never turning back. 

~~~

_III:_

The thing about the DA's office is they're very secrative, when they want or need to be. It was three days since she had heard from either them or Barba himself. Not until there were shiny shoes clicking into the squad room, interrupting their conversation about who exactly needed 34b sized bras and who needed to "borrow" Carisi's laptop. Olivia smiled when there was no contribution from Amanda. Oh god those two were a thing. But there it was, interrupting her new Sarge's teasing. The sound they all had memorized. The one they all wanted to hear.

"Rafael." Olivia gasped. The man stood before them. Just three days ago, he'd looked so tired. Tired of it all. Now he stood before them all, a soft gray suit, a baby blue shirt, a pastel colored tie and pocket square set, his hair carefully slicked back, and, to complete it all, a set of perfectly polished black shoes, confidence and pride shining in his eyes. 

"Olivia, care to talk?" She blinked a few times, shaking her head in shock and wonder and the transformed man in front of her. 

"Yeah, sure, of course, my office." He smiled, a grin she'd missed, something he'd never shone her for real in so long. They walked past, leaving a bewildered squad behind. She closed the door. "So?" She asked.

"6 months suspension." She looked at him in shock, not at all what she'd expected to hear. "Well, not really suspension, just suspension from SVU. I'll be taking appeals for the first two months, then homicide while Bodre is on maternity leave." 

"But... you look so..."

"Happy?" He supplied. She nodded. "Oh, I am. It's just what I needed, he knew that. Even I didn't know that, Liv. I thought I needed to leave SVU permanently, but I think I'm like you, Liv."

"How's that?" She asks.

"I need to help. I can't step away, but I can't stay right now. Not with everything that's been going on recently. 6 months leave is perfect, although I'm sure I'll miss it soon enough. How messed up is it that we miss SVU?" 

"Really messed up, but I know that."

"I realized, as he was talking on and on about my future, that I couldn't stomach never working here again, but I just needed that time. Now that that's all sorted, there's only one thing left to do."

"And what's that?"

"Will you go out with me, Liv?" He smiles at her, confidence radiating so strongly, "no" doesn't seem to be an option. "Friday, perhaps?"

"I'd love that, Rafael."

**Author's Note:**

> Personally, I'm rooting for 3


End file.
